Baylor
Texas Tech
Men's Tennis Team Squeaks Past Texas Tech, 4-3
8/10/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 27, 2000
WACO, Texas - The No. 8-ranked Baylor men's tennis team had to fight a little harder than expected on Monday against 56th ranked Texas Tech, but in the end, the Bears prevailed over the Red Raiders, 4-3.
As has been the custom for the Bears all season, Baylor took an early lead by winning the doubles point. David Hodge and Mark Williams teamed for their first conference win of the year at the No. 1 spot, while Pawel Gajdzik and Johann Jooste teamed to win No. 2 doubles.
The Texas Tech men responded, however, winning three singles matches at the Nos. 2, 3, and 5 spots to go up 3-2. Mark Williams won his team-leading 23rd match at No. 6, but Hodge, Gajdzik, and Johannes Michalsky each lost in three sets.
"They've got nothing to lose here," Baylor head coach Matt Knoll said. "They come out and swing hard at every ball. We're a little lethargic, and the next thing you know, we're behind."
With two sets remaining, it came down to Zoltan Papp and Jooste. Papp closed out his match with a 6-4, 6-4 win at the No. 4 spot, leaving Jooste in the center ring.
It could have been an easy match for Jooste. The Baylor ace jumped out early, leading 5-2 in the first set, but Texas Tech's Borut Martincivic won the next five points to take the set, 7-5. Jooste took a bit more control in the second set, winning 6-3 to extend the match.
In the third set, Jooste and Martincivic nearly duplicated their first match exploits, as Jooste again went up 5-2. Martincivic held serve to make it 5-3, then broke Baylor's serve as Jooste double-faulted and Texas Tech closed the match to 5-4. Jooste returned the favor in the next game, breaking Martincivic's serve after falling behind to clinch the match for himself and for the Bears.
"There's no other guy we'd rather have in that situation," Knoll said. "He's proven that time and time again over his career, that he's going to succeed. And he did."
This marked the second year in a row that Baylor and Texas Tech battled down to the final point of the final match, with Baylor winning each time.
"The biggest message of the day is that we won," Knoll said. "We really stuck together down the stretch."
The Bears now have a few days to rest before hitting the road to face No. 14 Fresno State in California on Saturday. The match is scheduled for 3 p.m. central time.
Monday, March 27
#8 Baylor (14-3, 4-0) def. #56 Texas Tech (7-9, 1-3), 4-3
No. 1 #17 Johann Jooste, BU, def. Borut Martincivic, TT, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
No. 2 Jevginij Cariov, TT, def. David Hodge, BU, 6-3, 6-3
No. 3 Ryan Shupe, TT, def. Pawel Gajdzik, BU, 6-1, 6-4
No. 4 #68 Zoltan Papp, BU, def. Pato Espinosa, TT, 6-4, 6-4
No. 5 Clay Estes, TT, def. Johannes Michalsky, BU, 6-4, 6-3
No. 6 Mark Williams, BU, def. Marino Baghdati, TT, 6-0, 6-3
No. 1 #4 Hodge/Williams, BU, def. Martincivic/Cariov, TT, 8-5
No. 2 #35 Gajdzik/Jooste, BU, def. Shupe/Earl, TT, 8-6
No. 3 Espinosa/Estes, TT, def. Papp/Michalsky, BU, 8-6
